Apologies if this topic has been handled before / wrong category
I’ve recently taken to setting my trainer difficulty to 100, so as to have a more transferable experience to outside riding this coming spring.
However since i’m a novice rider if sprung upon this problem:
At about 8+% incline, I have to hold 120%+ of my ftp just to turn the crank. You can imagine all fluidity is out the window.
Is there any data available comparing FTP or 1-hour-power to what % of climbing you can do properly for an extended time?
I suspect the data does not exist, simply because different gears exist. If you have a small ring in the front and a dinner plate in the rear, you can climb pretty much anything. If you’re on a fixed gear track bike - good luck!
I don’t know of any such data since (as mentioned above) it depends on what equipment you have.
It may help if you describe what equipment you are using, ie the make/model of smart trainer/bike you are using, if it is a trainer the bike and specifically the gearing you have on the bike.
Change your bike, so you can continue to use 100% TD and presumably climb the same grades outdoors, either by getting a smaller (small) chainring, larger big cog on the cassette, or both.
Lower the Trainer Difficulty, which has largely the same effect on a long climb. (To the TD complainers: Yes, I know, flywheel speed differences - but the force to the pedal will be lower either way)
Trainer difficulty is basically gearing difficulty, its there so riders can adjust it to suit the gearing range of their bike on hills, you have turned yours to 100% reducing your gearing, if you put it TD to 50% and then stay in your hardest gear this would have the same effect but nobody would do this, if you were doing OK at 50% I would just put it back there.
i’m not sure it’s totally correct to say “100% matches what i’d feel outdoors”. as everyone else is saying, it really depends on the gearing ratio of the bike you’re using.
i think you’re going to expend x watts regardless, so pick a trainer difficulty that feels do-able to you. if you can’t turn the cranks on a steeper hill in zwift at 100%, you should definitely lower your TD – it’s unlikely that the same grade outside on a bike that is reasonably geared would be that hard.
Hi, it’s actually not minimum FTP (average maximum watts for 1 hour), but more w/kg for climbing. The more watts you can push for a given weight, the faster you can climb. The lighter you weigh, the faster you can climb. Or, the best is more watts and lighter. Riders that weigh around 135 lbs can climb almost any mountain if they can maintain around 1.8-2.1 w/kg. If 165 lbs or so, 2.5-3w/kg will get you up most climbs. Hope this helps.
I’m as close to a “TD<100 = cheating” purist as it gets but just lower your TD. Try 50, try to get fitter and dial it back up towards 100% as you get better, but do what you have to do to accomplish your rides as you see fit.
This is not really correct. I think it would be more correctly interpreted as ‘gradient feel modifier’. Meaning that if the in-game gradient is +10% the rider would experience it as 10% if the TD is set to 100%, but as 5% if the TD is set to 50%. And if the gradient is -10% the rider would feel it as -5% with TD 100%, and as -2.5% with TD 50% (since Zwift already cuts downhill gradients in half).
In either scenario (100% or 50%), though, the same total power output would be needed to cover a specific distance.
“Gradient feel modifier” is exactly what it is and a far better description than Zwift but you can do the exact same thing by keeping it set to 50% and just changing to a harder gear on the hill, turning it up to 100% then being under geared is exactly the same as climbing in a harder gear and as it takes same watts to hit the same speed on the hill regardless of trainer difficulty level so all you are left with is gearing, remember there is no actual hill to climb its just resistance from the trainer.
Is that true because there seems to be no difference between 50% and 100% to get up to speed to do the supertuck at 35mph.
I assume its just a different gear am using to get to 35mph.
Your experience sounds like your gearing is not adequate for steep climbs and you don’t have enough strength to push that gearing.
So you’ll need to find a new cassette (and maybe a different rear derailleur to accommodate it) or reduce the trainer difficulty.
What matters is your times on the big climbs like Ven-top or ADZ. Once you’ve found gearing that you can manage on the steepest sections of the climb, you just have to keep riding those big mountain routes daily.
What cassette and front chain rings are on your trainer? I put a 37 front/28 rear on my bike and set trainer difficulty to 100% and still AdZ feels easier than Alpe d’Huez with 33 back and front. If you’ve already got the biggest cassette and smallest chain ring up front you are going to need a whole lot of training and/or will have to loose weight/ and or get a different bike with a lighter gear ratio if you want to tackle the mountains but beware you are most likely riding a fixed setup. On real climbs even if you can easily turn the cranks you need to be able to generate a certain speed otherwise you will topple over. On Huez I needed to put out around 4W/kg on the first 2 bends to maintain enough speed (10km/h)
Are you using a cassette or a zwift cog? If you’re using the cog, you can select a wider range of gears under the Zwift settings after you connect your trainer. I believe the standard virtual cassette is 11-28t but it might go up to 11-43t for easier climbing.
Even at TD=0? Interesting. I’ve always ridden at TD=100, but thought I’d read that TD=0 meant that any road (up or down) was effectively flat, so you’d have to pedal all the time.
I’m actually in a similar position to you. I’m doing some big irl climbs for the first time ever this year. This video helpef me understand how i would need to cycle in the alps/dolomites.
I practise on zwift - low cadence basically and getting more comfortable being out of the saddle below ftp. AdZ and ventop are handy, plus the climb portal.
Of course, by generally increasing your power over long duration you’ll be able to get up the hills easier and at a higher cadence.
Good luck!
Edit: if using virtual gearing you can restrict the lowest gear used to the ratio that matches your irl bike. For me i have a 36:34 as my easiest gear so virtual gear 4 is the lowest i go!
